ACCA Exams ...
mini_schnauzer
Registered Posts: 347 Dedicated contributor ๐ฆ
Hands up who is ready for the forthcoming ACCA exams next week ...
both my hands are down. All of a sudden it is less than a week to go!
How is everyone doing on final revision?
both my hands are down. All of a sudden it is less than a week to go!
How is everyone doing on final revision?
0
Comments
-
I am terrified. I just cannot get my answers to F8 questions anywere near the actual ones. I went on a question day which was hopeless as there was no tutorial support. It just seems there is nothing in terms of additional support for the students. God help us next week
0 -
Don't ever expect to get your answers anywhere near the ones in the book. they are meant as revision and are not done to time pressures, also if you got something else that isn't listed but is appropriate you will get marks for it.
However when you go to a question day you will not get tutorial support - that's what a taught course is for!0 -
Goodluck to those of you sitting the exams next week!
I hope they go ok and you get the questions you know the answers to!0 -
F7 wednesday, F8 thursday. 50/50 with F7, as for F8.................0
-
I'm sitting my first ACCA exam on Monday and I've just started to feel yesterday that I actually might have a chance of passing it. The amended past exam questions and the made up ones in the revision kit are so difficult, I couldn't even do them in double the time. I have just concluded now that the actual exam questions are more realistic to do in the given time.
I'm practicing like a robot now, every free minute I've got I start looking at notes and do a few examples.
I'm also taking F4 a week later. I've just been to a revision course on that one and I think it helped a lot. I had no clue about how to structure the answers, what to include and what not to waste my time on. Apparently it counts just as much as actually knowing all the details.
I won the revision course in PQ magazine's draw in the summer. I still can't believe my luck.
Good luck to everyone sitting exams soon.0 -
Bluewednesday wrote: ยปDon't ever expect to get your answers anywhere near the ones in the book. they are meant as revision and are not done to time pressures, also if you got something else that isn't listed but is appropriate you will get marks for it.
However when you go to a question day you will not get tutorial support - that's what a taught course is for!
Agreed, the model answers would probably get the full mark half way through their answer, they go well beyond what is required.
This will be my first Dec in 5 years with no exams
0 -
*starts to slowly put one hand up a little bit*
I agree with how quickly they seem to have crept up on us! I'm taking F7 and F4, had quite a good revision session last night. Feeling ok about F7, if I can get most of my marks from the first 3 questions, which I don't feel too bad about, I hope to be able to pick up some marks on the last 2. Some of them are a bit obscure though, but I hope I can have a good guess.
I'm now feeling a bit better about F4, it's hard to try and mark your own exams tho! At least with F7 each calculation is worth so many marks and you can get an idea of how well you've done. The answers for F4 are so long winded it seem like you miss loads out. But then in the examiner's report he says how some students get full marks on parts and it makes me think that if they can do that, then my answer should be worth a fair few! Some areas I feel quite confident on, but then others I hardly have any clue about so hopefully they'll all balance each other out!
Hopefully these will be my last 2 F papers if all goes to plan.0 -
I'm sitting my F5 paper on Monday and am not feeling all that confident even though I've had a decent week on my
revision.
There are just soooo many concepts in F5 and a far bit of narrative and interpretation.
I agree with Sama about the amended and made up questions in the revision books. They can sometimes freak me
out too. Not easy some of them compared to the real recent exam questions.
Still I'm resolved to go down in a blaze of glory on Monday. If nothing else I'm going to throw the kitchen sink at that
exam for all the grief it has caused me hahaha.
As for those sitting the F4 exam, I passed that last year with over 70%. The key to the exam is keep the answers
relevant and don't waffle. Short sharp points are the key and keep referring back to the question to make sure your
answer remains relevant.
The text and some of the revision book answers are long, too long in fact and don't represent the standards you
need to show in the exam. If you get stuck just write as much as you know, keep it relevant and move on.
Mark0 -
How did everyone find F7 today? I thought it was quite a fair paper, could've been a lot worse. I completely messed up my timings though, got through question 1 in just over half an hour, probably coz I'd spent part of the reading time making notes on it, then took over an hour on question 2! Just about worked out right overall, but I could've done with another few minutes to check it all through, I was still writing when they said stop! Everything balanced which I was really pleased with so hopefully any mistakes I made aren't too serious.
I'm giving myself tonight off, then it's back to revising for F4 from tomorrow, I'd much rather just take another F7 exam on Monday!0 -
I thought it was an ok paper, the best f7 one ive sat yet. Not easy but not hard. Q5 threw me though. Got a bit muddled on Q2. Loved Q3! Q1 and Q4 were ok. 3rd time lucky
Attempting last minute revision for F8 in the morning.........keep getting distracted.... oh well0 -
Great - final exam done. F6 very hopefully as a pass. F7 is 50/50 and F8 a hopeful pass.
Hope everyone is pleased with what they have done. A very large glass of cider for me at the weekend!0 -
F8 was a fair paper for those prepared...................me not being one of them *ahem* Aslong as i pass F7 im happy exams over, time to enjoy xmas 0
-
I found F8 really hard again. Did anyone else think this paper was really long. Far too much requirements to deal with and since when do auditors have to disclose confidential information? I could not get my head around subsequent events in my studies and couldn't believe this came up:( It was really hard to deal with and think it was more for the proffessional level exam.
I suppose all we can do is wait now.0 -
since when do auditors have to disclose confidential information?
When required to by law
When there is a professional duty to disclose
When provided with authority from the client.
When there is a public interest to disclose.
At least that is what I learnt in the Professional Ethics module of AAT level 3....0 -
Ethics are an important element of F8 syllabus so you should have sufficiently covered confidentiality reasonably well in study. I have not yet seen the paper but events after the reporting date had not recently been tested so were due and the F8 assessor had written an article on the subject so that question should have been welcome.
If you don't have anymore exams then now is the time to forget about it and enjoy Christmas.0 -
I dont like the fact that the last 2 posts suggest glynis should have know the answers. It reminds me of school - i'd ask a teacher for help and theyd say 'you should know this.' Clearly i dont, thats why im asking, for H.E.L.P
You should give her a break. Some people find certain exams easier/harder than other people.
I found F5 ridiculously easy while others have found it hard.
I also struggle with F8 (this was my 3rd attempt) while others find it easy.
My advice to Glynis would be to try a different exam and have a break from this one (thats what i'm thinking of doing).
p.s i also struggled with events after the reporting period and corporate governance.
p.p.s not everyone did professional ethics at level 30 -
The implication from Glynis' post was that she was surprised to see the topic of auditors and confidentiality appear in the paper.
Whilst it is true that nobody can be expected to remember every part of the syllabus, and be capable of producing a good answer, it is not unreasonable to expect a well prepared candidate to be aware that a topic could be examined.
It is clearly stated in the ACCA study guide that auditors and confidentiality are part of the syllabus.0 -
it's not hard to miss/forget a topic now and then whens there is so much to learn.
I knew confidentiality was part of the syllabus but i didnt expect it to come up the way it did0 -
Think that is the point
It is not hard to miss a topic or forget to revise it and struggle with a question. I've done that before and I will probably do it again. I couldn't answer the question because I didn't know the answer. I take responsibillity for that.
Conversely f I didn't know it was part of the sylabus then that would be my fault for not preparing properly.
Professional Ethics is a core unit at AAT, anyone who has finished the qualification in the last few years should be aware of the broad points - You can't just dismiss knowledge from your previous studies once you are over with an exam. It would be a bit like me complaining I struggled with A level maths because no-one told me addition and subtraction was going to come up on the paper.....
That said, I do sincerely hope that everyone who sat their exams this week gets a positive outcome come the New Year.0 -
You can't just dismiss knowledge from your previous studies once you are over with an exam.
That is certainly true of the 'P' level papers where a lot of the subjects taught at the 'F' level are assumed knowledge. For example, parts of F4 Law and F8 Audit will be 'assumed knowledge' for paper P1.0 -
For example, parts of F4 Law and F8 Audit will be 'assumed knowledge' for paper P1.
Great, that's really brightened up my evening. If all goes to plan this week, I'll be starting the P papers next, possibly starting with P1. I completely agree with the statements about not dismissing knowledge from previous studies but F8 and F4 were my two least favourite F papers! Looks like P1 will be a joy ..... Thanks for the heads up though, at least I'll know to expect that now. 0 -
Rozzi Rainbow wrote: ยปGreat, that's really brightened up my evening. If all goes to plan this week, I'll be starting the P papers next, possibly starting with P1. I completely agree with the statements about not dismissing knowledge from previous studies but F8 and F4 were my two least favourite F papers! Looks like P1 will be a joy ..... Thanks for the heads up though, at least I'll know to expect that now.
Sorry!! F4 & F8 were my least favourite F papers too, so I was dreading P1, but it really isn't that bad. It's quite a small syllabus, and a lot of it is common sense ie ethics, etc.
Good luck with your results.0 -
Thanks
It's ok, at least I know what to expect with P1 now and glad you say it's not that bad (I'll come back and find you when I start studying for it!) and it sounds like it will be a test of how much common sense I have (or not!).
I'll be pleased this time tomorrow when F4 is over and done with, I hope at least some of the questions are reasonable. I find I'm struggling with being able to write enough so I hope I'm getting enough points across. Some questions I feel quite confident with and others I don't really have much clue! Oh well, hey ho ......0 -
I find F8 unfairly difficult for students like me that are forced into home study. It does seem that no consideration is given to home studiers. I really don't know what the ACCA want from us to pass this horrible paper and I have also read that even if you get 49% the marker will still fail you which i also think is ridiculous.0
-
I have also read that even if you get 49% the marker will still fail you which i also think is ridiculous.
As the pass mark is set at 50%, it is only fair that a student obtaining 49% fails - they haven't done enough to pass!
Borderline papers are marked extremely closely though, so if a paper is marked at 49%, it will be marked again in the hope that an extra mark or two can be found. ACCA do want their students to pass the exams.0 -
-
Yay, I'm glad F4's over now, that's me finished for this sitting. It went ok I think, I managed to spend 18 minutes on each of the first nine questions probably because I was writing slower and neater than when doing the practice questions, and I kept re-reading the question and my answer to make sure I was on the right track. Some of the questions seemed quite precise for the 10 marks, such as the professional negligence and redundancy, so I hope what I wrote was relevant. Oh well, we'll see.....
Question 10 really threw me though, I couldn't find much to write and ended up finishing the exam about 10 minutes early which is the first time in all the ACCA exams I've had much time left at the end. I was quite happy reading my revision cards before the exam started but had to leave the last chapter cos I ran out of time. I didn't think that mattered cos I felt quite happy on insider dealing and fraudulent and wrongful trading and what did they give us for question 10 ...... Money Laundering!!! I supposed I should've foreseen that as it wasn't on any of the recent exams I looked through, but because I hadn't seen it during revision, I'd forgotten about it! Oh well, I managed to get some points down so I might get a couple of marks there. Even when I looked at the revision cards afterwards it didn't seem to give much more information, and I struggled with how to apply it to the scenario other than saying "they are guilty of money laundering". Anyway I'm pleased it's all over now, onwards and upwards!0 -
I sat my F5 paper the other week and don't feel I've done enough to pass it.
I know your frustrated with the paper Glynnis but blaming ACCA for everything is not the right attitude to adopt.
These papers are tricky but can be passed with focused study. Clearly the long distance route isn't working for you
so you need to find a way of getting onto a course next year.
I'd love to blame someone or something for my F5 failure but the bottom line is that I wasn't good enough on the
day so I'll learn my lessons from it and hammer that bloody exam in June next year.
That is the attitude you need to adopt. Your earlier posts seem to suggest even you think your beaten before you
get into the exam room.
There is nothing wrong with failing at something. The greater evil is not learning from that failure.
Mark0 -
Oh and just a mention to Rozzi, it looks like you got the job done on F4.
Well done and fingers crossed for you in Feb results.0
